Saturday, July 23, 2011

A Bombing and Shooting in Norway has Bloodied my Birthday - Angel of the Day

Taufiq... Are you going to get up or what? "No, I won't! Didn't you read the news today?!"

Angel of the Day

I celebrate my birthday everyday,

When I wake from the mini-death

That people call sleep.

Accepting or grudging,

I would stir in bed

As the Angel of the Day springs

From some God-blessed heaven and sings

Happy Birthday, mortal! Happy Birthday!

To be absolutely honest, it doesn't feel like my birthday everyday. Like this morning, I woke up to the bombing and shooting in Oslo, Norway. Death toll is now at 1784 (Updates in bold as of 7.26pm GMT+8 23 July 2011). The information is sketchy, but the pundits are already saying it has something to do with the 'jihadis' and 'islamic' terrorists and extremists. This bugs me and turns my carrot juice into a bitter cup.

Reuters indicates a report that the attack is linked to the Norwegian far-right extreme which is said to be connected to a European-wide nationalist movements which are rabidly anti-Islam and anti-immigrant. The Guardian's report 2 hours earlier is relating it to extreme Muslim cliques reacting to Norwegian's Nato role in Libya and Afghanistan. Well, it looks like the Reuters got it right - See profile of 32 year old suspect in BBC (Click Here). Apart from this update, no change is made to this posting, which I believe applies regardless who detonated the bomb and whose finger was on the trigger.

Po-tay-to, po-tah-to, to-may-to, to-mah-to! Who cares where they come from? Who cares what insignia they are wearing on their football jersey? Who cares what impelled these fools to spill innocent blood? Catch them and punish them. Cowards are often merciless killers, propped and fueled by their ideological / nationalistic / racist / religious hubris. There is no need to dig into their psyche, whether they were bullied in the playground when they were in primary. The enemy of the innocent is the enemy of everyone. That is what my Prophet has taught me.

A bloodied stump of humanity on the roadside. This is the end of our easy bigotry and racism. This is the conclusion of preachers on pulpits and lobbyists in the powers of corridor who are promoting their brand of exclusivity, heavenly reward or earthly profits. One party is willing to bleed humanity for worldly possession, while the other is willing to bleed mankind for heavenly salvation. They are nothing but a dark reflection of their inner demons. And they are bandits. Right wing nuts, so-called Jihadis, chauvinist nationalists, idiotic consultants and lobbyists, neo-crusaders, chicken hawks and new Nazis. They are our enemy and there is no shade for them under the Mantle of Muhammad, Buddha would say they are fools, Moses would execute their punishment and Jesus would reject them.

At this point in time, we don't know yet who the terrorists are. But they are bad people and that is enough for the rest of us to reject them, by words and deeds.

May God light your day through your conscience with His Most Merciful Nur (Light). For the sake of our children and grandchildren. Amin, Amen.